Renee Coleman is blaming the Harford County Government for the delay in opening her new cannabis dispensary, Bud and Mary’s LLC.

Coleman told WJZ she can’t secure a location without the go-ahead from the county council. Emails from Coleman to the county aide show multiple attempts to set up meetings and secure that paperwork.

Legalized recreational marijuana started in Maryland in 2022. In August, 2024, Coleman was one of three applicants to receive a state license to open a dispensary in Harford County.

The state gives licensees an 18-month window to open, and Coleman had all her plans laid out to hit the ground running. She has one year remaining to open, but has nothing but a logo.

“I’m very, very worried,” Coleman told WJZ. “It’s already been about six months with no communication from Harford County Council, so what am I to do? I don’t know what to do.”

Coleman says she was told someone would be in touch, but no one has called.

“We wanted to meet and start that interactive dialogue with Harford County Council to see how we can help continue to build our communities,” Coleman said. “So when we received the push back and the block, it was like, ‘How?’ If this is a state law, why are we getting push back if it says we are able to operate here?”

A statement from Harford County Government to WJZ reads: “In an attempt to comply with the state’s decision to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana, the county administration sent proposed legislation to the County Council making the operation of a cannabis dispensary a permitted use in certain county zoning districts and adopting other requirements and conditions. However, the bill was voted down by the County Council and, therefore, our Department of Planning & Zoning cannot legally issue the requested permits.”

Coleman has already invested $20,000 into a business that she is licensed by the state to open, and says this answer from the county is unacceptable.

“It’s the law,” Coleman said. “And we followed all the rules and guidelines to be awarded, and we just simply want to abide by the law and do what the law says that we can do.”

Coleman says the next step is to take this issue to the state level.

Ashley Paul

Ashley Paul joined the WJZ team in December 2024 as a reporter, and could not be happier to call Charm City home!
Ashley has told stories all across the country, including in Maine, Central Pennsylvania and Tampa, where she won a Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists award in the “Multi-Media Journalist In a Large Market” category.